Linking land policy and planning to urban inclusion

November 2014 — For a city to become more inclusive of its marginalized residents, it needs a proactive land policy that takes into account its unique historical and geospatial contexts, and fits into a broader urban planning vision. A city's laws on land ownership can make the difference between evictions and legal residency; land taxation policies may determine the quantity and quality of real-estate investments, as well as the diversity of residents.

November's discussion explores cities' current and proposed policies with respect to land use, covering such topics as slum upgrading, city-center revitalization, land taxation, and gender-inclusive urban planning. Check out this month's reports to read about policies from across the Global South — then join the conversation in the comments below.

"I wish Joburg was New York": 'Sweeping' poverty in Johannesburg

Johannesburg, 25 November 2014 — While informal trade has always struggled to exist in Johannesburg, and remains so even after the 1994 democratic transition, this usually 'hidden' struggle was made plain when the City recently embarked on a plan to remove thousands of traders from the inner-city. Known as "Operation Clean Sweep," it provoked both outrage and support, raising questions of the policy and urban space status quo, and larger questions about what a democracy and a city is, and for whom it is. See more.

"I wish Joburg was New York": 'Sweeping' poverty in Johannesburg

Tariq Toffa, Johannesburg Community Manager

The South African Constitution demands that "a municipality must [...] give priority to the basic needs of the community," "promote the social and economic development," and grant every citizen "the right to choose their trade [...] freely," although this "may be regulated by law." In October 2013, however, 'regulation' drowned out any higher societal values when the City embarked on a plan dubbed "Operation Clean Sweep." In its drive to rid central Johannesburg of 'illegal' street trading deemed to bring disorderliness and criminality, the "sweep" evicted and confiscated the goods of thousands of street traders (including 'legal' traders) for whom this is a largely survivalist livelihood (fig. 1: before and after).

The City's action ended it in two court cases involving the three main associations of traders (SANTRA, SAITF and One Voice), supported by SERI, labour federation Cosatu and law firm Routledge Modise's pro bono associate Michal Johnson. Academic support also came from CUBES at the University of the Witwatersrand. Eventually, the Constitutional Court would lambast the City's "flagrant disregard of informal traders' rights."

'Legal' traders (rent paying, licensed, and belonging to recognized trader's unions) must now be accommodated only in legally demarcated trading bays (currently a mere 800 bays approximately). Those outside of these demarcated spaces, effectively some 90 percent of an estimated 8 000 street traders, have been unapologetically excluded. The City simultaneously also released a draft by-law that would evict land invaders and occupants of so-called bad buildings without the legally required court orders and provision of alternative accommodation. Behind this officially sanctioned violence toward the most vulnerable lay the understanding that their mass evictions will assist private-sector inner-city regeneration projects—of which the city is increasingly supportive—and boost the residential property market.

The privileging of the formal economy and repression of the informal economy has a long history in South Africa. Today, private-sector regeneration / gentrification, the City's failure to provide sufficient low-income urban accommodation, while preventing the same people from earning a livelihood on its streets, together make for a powerful exclusionary paradigm. In an urban setting never made to facilitate informal livelihoods, the status quo is thus wholly inadequate. Rather, urban space itself must be restructured, in addition to policy transformation. A more inclusive paradigm would include developing low-income rental accommodation that enables live-work or other economic opportunities (fig. 2), as well as pedestrianization of streets to allow for street trading. A longer term plan could transform the largely defunct railway infrastructure that runs through the inner-city into a public open space system, which could dramatically increase informal economic opportunity (fig. 3: a railway-to-park 2009 City competition proposal).

There are also much larger issues at stake: about what a democracy and a city is, and for whom it is. For contemporary cities constantly in change, and South African cities recovering from historic injustices, Johannesburg should be less concerned with misplaced modernistic notions about what it wants to look like ("World Class" or otherwise), and more with its role in securing the ethical foundations upon which anonymous city actors collectively shape city form.

The "sweep" provoked moral outrage (as well as support), worsened by evidence of police brutality. Ultimately though, the call to government authorities is really only what Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. — here appropriately invoked — called his government and society to: "All we say to America is, 'Be true to what you said on paper.'"

Johannesburg's Mayor also has a dream: "I wish Joburg was New York." Close.

The MRT's impact on the informal sector

Jakarta, 24 November 2014 — Traders from the informal sectors often become the target of the city council's actions to maintain discipline, as they are considered disruptive to order and their presence as decreasing the city's beauty. The MRT construction in Jakarta also impacts these traders. Will relocation be sufficient? See more.

The MRT's impact on the informal sector

Widya Anggraini, Jakarta Community Manager

In Jakarta, 29 percent of workers are in the informal sector. Most of them are street vendors since access to this sector is relatively easy: businesses only require a small amount of capital, and are operable without any technology. Street vendors are often blamed for disrupting traffic and causing congestion, as well as disturbing the city landscape. Many street vendors have been displaced due to the ongoing Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) construction.

According to the plan, the MRT Jakarta will be built over 110 km, including the Lebak Bulus–Kampung Badan corridor that spans 23 km and an east–west corridor that spans 87 km. As a first step, the 15 km Lebak Bulus–Bundaran HI corridor will be built with 13 stations, and is expected to be operating in 2018. The MRT construction plan is controversial, and has been delayed for quite some time. Starting in 2013, the early phases have been implemented along with public outcry, including from the street vendors, who oppose the MRT as it threatens their lifestyle. Hundreds of street vendors have rallied in strikes, demanding settlements.

In response, the Jakarta City Council will provide a special location to accommodate the street vendors so that they can keep operating. Joko Widodo has mandated that the Jakarta Department of Micro Enterprises and Trade relocate them to Binaan, Muria Dalam, Manggarai in South Jakarta. This location was chosen based on its close proximity to the previous area, to minimize their resistance to the move — one important complaint from street vendors is the possibility of losing customers due to the relocation. Besides just relocating the street vendors, the government also gives them guidance and advice. The government office gathered data about the street vendors before the relocation process. Afterwards, they provided business training about improving services and price determining methods.

This relocation plan is the only strategy adopted for moving the street vendor in order to ensure that the development of the MRT is done according to plan. This relocation is also being planned in other street vendor locations that coincide with the MRT's development. One of the areas that is being used to relocate the street vendors is in Ciledug: this two-hectare area is designated to accommodate up to 600 street vendors. To date, the Jakarta City Council continues its efforts to identify and minimize the impacts of MRT development on street vendors. The goal is both to achieve better infrastructure as well as include the informal sector in the urban economy. Close.

The impact of the 'Bando 2' public policy on urban inclusion and informality in Mexico City

Mexico City, 21 November 2014 — The "Proclamation 2" land use policy in Mexico City aimed to bring order to housing development planning there. However, it did not achieve the goal of including the most marginalized populations due to the policy's effect on the price of land. See more.

The impact of the 'Bando 2' public policy on urban inclusion and informality in Mexico City

María Fernanda Carvallo, Mexico City Community Manager

Professor and researcher Sergio Tamayo explains that "in December of 2000, two days before taking office, the Governor of the Federal District announced the creation of Bando 2 [Proclamation 2], which prohibited the construction of residential complexes of more than two floors in nine of the 16 political delegations in the Federal District."

The objective of the Bando 2 policy was to become an "instrument of urban development policy that sought to reverse urban sprawl, urban expansion, and the depopulation of central areas; to preserve land with ecological value; and to facilitate access to housing for low-income populations in central areas."

First, the Government of the Federal District's policy generated high demand for properties in central areas, thereby raising prices. Because of this increase in the cost of residential land, the goal of repopulating central areas and relieving ecological zones was thus not accomplished.

Another objective of this policy was to enable the poor to access the central area of the city where more services are available. However, the social housing targeted to the vulnerable population had to be managed by the public sector to identify the pieces of land available for Bando 2. This process of identifying land, developing the construction, authorizing it as social housing, and then providing loans to low-income populations is the responsibility of the Property Institute of the Federal District. The marginalized populations therefore encountered the problem of not being able to find property due to the scarcity of land, high prices of available land, and lack of access to loans due to high demand. The population that had no access to the authorized land through Bando 2 had to obtain informal properties, which did not satisfy property title laws, leasing contracts, or building codes because they were found outside the demarcated housing development area.

The policy of Bando 2 ended in 2006 with the following administration allowing housing development in all areas. However, the effects of this policy are still visible as it is currently not possible to build affordable housing units with more than three floors. There are therefore still very few properties available for the poor.

Home builders in the business chamber Canadevi think that one of the alternatives available to combat this problem is the creation of a public policy that would allow for the construction of housing developments of more than six floors in areas where there are a wide range of public services. This would spark the construction of homes built for public social interest. This way, it would be possible to take advantage of the vertical space of the city for the development of the buildings that will help satisfy the demand for housing. Close.

Returning Bangalore to its reign as India's "Green City"

Bangalore, 20 November 2014 — Bangalore, once known for its parks and cool, fresh air, is being taken over by cars, pollution, and haphazard development. The unwieldy growth is leading to massive sprawl, making it difficult to reach new areas via public transit. The city's Master Plan is up for renewal, and the Green City has a chance to reverse this trend by designing development for a more compact city. Models for denser, more walkable cities aren't too far off either. See more.

Returning Bangalore to its reign as India's "Green City"

Carlin Carr, Bangalore Community Manager

The southern Indian city of Bangalore is often described as the "Green City" for all its urban parks and cooler temperatures. This reputation is being threatened by massive urban development, explosive car growth, and sprawling housing colonies. The hi-tech hub is being overrun by traffic jams, pollution, and paving. The problem has reached such heights that last year the city was said to have the sixth-worst commute in the world. Not all hope is lost, however. The city's Master Plan, which sets out the development of Bangalore up to 2031, is about to be renewed. There is an opportunity to better orient growth around sustainable transport by integrating land use and transport policy to make a more livable city. The innovative path is one that other cities in India have already begun to turn toward.

Developing denser, more walkable cities around transit lines — what experts today call Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) — is not a new concept. "In the pre-automobile age, that's how cities developed," says Robert Cervero, a UC Berkeley professor of city and regional planning. "They were compact and had a mix of land uses that were physically oriented to transit because there was no other way to get around." This is a concept Bangalore could adopt as the focus for the next Master Plan. It's an idea that could benefit both residents and administrative coffers.

While density invites sustainable transport choices, the opposite is also true. The more cities grow outwards, the greater the likelihood that people will use cars rather than public transport. Sending people out might sound like a good idea, especially in India's congested cities, but sprawl makes the situation worse. Bangalore knows this firsthand. The city has been building townships on the outskirts to deal with urban overcrowding but the plan is backfiring. Public transport to these areas is almost non-existent, and building them to reach such far-flung areas is complicated and costly. Good land-use planning can reverse this trend.

As Bangalore embarks on an important planning exercise, it could learn from a neighbor to its north. Ahmedabad, India, known for its low density, has launched the city's 2021 plan, which takes a turn from previous land use patterns. The 2021 plan for the city invites developers to build up instead of out by increasing floor-space-index allowances. Twenty-five-story buildings, unheard of in the city now, could be the norm. "Urban sprawl leads to higher financial burden on infrastructure development and transportation besides reducing agricultural land and increasing stress level," said Neela Munshi, Ahmedabad's senior town planner in an interview this year.

Ahmedabad's new direction shows that calculated decisions to better integrate land use and transportation development are key to reining in Bangalore's car-manic, sprawl-happy culture. Transportation networks are the lifeline to livable cities, and if the city can carefully plan these networks and then incentivize growth along them, perhaps Bangalore can finally return to its reign as the country's Green City. Close.

Planning as a way to stop informal growth on Cali's hillsides

Cali, 19 November 2014 — The 2000 General Plan banned all development on Cali's hillsides. Still, the pressure of the massive immigration that took place since then has resulted in the informal settlement of almost 400 hectares. The new General Plan acknowledges this reality and allows for planned development as a way to stop informal settlements. See more.

Planning as a way to stop informal growth on Cali's hillsides

Jorge Bela, Cali Community Manager

Cali just passed a new General Plan (POT). As it seeks to serve as the guide for the city's growth in the next 15 years, it includes several major measures. Among them are the approval of the Green Corridor Project, the densification of the city, and the prioritization of public transportation, especially the BRT MIO over private car use. It also regulates, for the first time, development on the city’s hillsides.

Until now, no legal development was possible on the hills. The previous POT, approved in 2000, wanted to protect the hills as green areas, almost as ecological reserves. This restrictive policy, however, did not stop the irregular settling on almost 400 hectares. About 36,000 houses, in which up to 160,000 people live, have been illegally built. Most of the informal settlers were those displaced by the armed conflict from the Valle del Cauca region. In many cases, they paid for the land on which they built their houses. This land had been previously bought, at very low prices, by speculators who then sold them at much higher prices to the settlers.

As it is often the case, these informal settlements lack most basic services and are poorly connected to the rest of the city. A study by the Fundacion Carvajal determined that in some of these areas up to 97 percent of inhabitants live below the poverty level, and 45 percent are considered to be living in conditions of extreme poverty. Furthermore, a study undertaken by the city shows that about 64 hectares of the informal settlements are located on highly unstable terrain, with high risk of landslides. The policy of banning any development has proved to be a failure.

The new general plan recognizes this situation, and allows development on some hillsides for the first time, with certain restrictions. Development can only take place through local zoning plans, which must be approved by the city. Buildings must be at least five stories high, and in certain areas they can go much higher. The minimum size of a proposed development is 20 hectares. Eighty percent of the land must be reserved for green spaces, and construction can only take place on the remaining 20 percent. The green spaces will be created and maintained by the owners of the housing units. The developers must present environmental studies as well as geological certificates that ensure that the area is not prone to landslides. The plans can be proposed by local authorities or by private investors.

The idea behind the new POT is to allow for legal and carefully planned construction as a way to put a stop to informal and even dangerous growth. The solution adopted has been criticized, since the requirements in lot size and the requirement to create large green areas de facto exclude almost all but the largest promoters from the process. Still, al last Cali is determined to solve a problem through planning, instead of ignoring its existence and allowing it to grow worse with time. Close.

A life of dignity through land reforms

Delhi, 18 November 2014 — With mega infrastructure projects including the 1,483 km-long Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor and numerous Special Economic Zones, Delhi is facing rising contention over land. The judgments so far have been regressive and hardly understood or practiced with respect to those affected by them. This article discusses a need for a land policy developed within the overall framework of human rights. See more.

A life of dignity through land reforms

Priyanka Jain, Delhi Community Manager

India has over 17 percent of the world's population living on 2.4 percent of the world's geographical area. Land policy for rising urbanization is increasingly becoming more contentious and needs to be considered within the overall framework of human rights. While some rights have been established in the framework through the Land Acquisition and Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bills (R&R), the frame still remains narrow. The R&R benefits are mostly applicable to farm lands and hence in urban contexts are hardly understood.

The demolitions happen in two cases: (1) when the land is occupied by slum dwellers without legal entitlements and is centrally located and strategic from real estate point of view; (2) when structures come in the 'right of way' while implementing infrastructure projects. With the growing clout of real estate and mega city projects including 1,483 km long Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor and Special Economic Zones, Delhi confronts the above situation with some glaring loopholes. Government of Delhi has been adopting a three-pronged strategy. Concurrent to evictions and demolitions, in-situ up-gradation, relocation of slum structures at far places, and environment improvement of existing 'authorized' or 'unauthorized’ slums are these main approaches.

In recent ten years, most of the evicted slum dwellers are resettled far away, in the rural fringe of Delhi, up to 30 kms. One such settlement site in Savda-Gherva that is located 13kms away from the far extended suburb (Rohini) of Delhi. According to a study conducted by Micro Home Solutions, the provision of ownership rights have varied greatly since 1962 - from 99-year leasehold in earlier colonies to the more recently truncated licenses of terms as short as 7-15 years. The titles restrict the right to transfer, sell or mortgage. Basic services such as electricity, sewage, and water only follow after relocation, taking between 3 to 15 years later to arrive, usually one at a time through political channels.

A regressive and more darker view can be observed in Almrita vs. the Union of India case, a recent judgment of Supreme Court, that leaves no scope for the squatters on public or private lands for a reasonable resettlement by government. The judgment on one hand condemned the government failure to provide for low income housing as guaranteed in the Delhi Master Plan, on the other, it considered "rewarding an encroacher on public land with a free alternative site is like giving a reward to a pickpocket." This pattern of showing the un-civic conduct of slum dwellers and the importance of removing them was maintained in the proceeding leading up to the demolition of the Yamuna Pushta, a slum housing of more than 150,000 people on the banks of the Yamuna river.

How can we really reflect on the fundamentals of development when history is replete with instances of the community been left in isolation?

Recently, the World Bank has published a resource-book on 'involuntary resettlement' both in rural and urban contexts, which along with the National R&R Policy can be a useful guide for R&R under the infrastructure projects. The central government of India has also released a draft of an ambitious new national land reform policy for public discussion, largely the result of efforts of Ekta Parishad. It is an organization that helped lead Jansatyagraha (a march of tens of thousands) to Delhi last year. In an effort to stop the march, the Union Minister of Rural Development, Jairam Ramesh signed a 10-point agreement with Ekta Parishad. Through these campaigns, people have created a workable form of political action, which is a powerful tool to pressurize government into action. It is not something that has given instantaneous results, but it has shown that in a democratic state, governments always respond when the power is with the people. Close.

What to do with Surabaya's railway track settlements?

Surabaya, 17 November 2014 — Illegal buildings around railway tracks are ubiquitous in Surabaya. Temporary, semi-permanent, and permanent buildings become the face of the city, diminishing its beauty and tidiness. What can we learn from the Surabaya city council's actions? See more.

What to do with Surabaya's railway track settlements?

Widya Anggraini, Surabaya Community Manager

Surabaya's strong urbanization brings hundreds of thousands of migrants to the city each year looking for work. Due to the lack of affordable housing, many of these recent migrants move into empty terrains that belong to the government. These areas are not to be developed, and include areas around railway tracks. Surabaya seeks to relocate and restructure these locations, with options such as building flats, as well as giving compensations.

To revamp the city, the Indonesian Train Company has started cleaning up illegal settlements around railway tracks that have been used by migrants for housing and trade. Beggars and street vendors were displaced, as they failed to follow the land-use guidelines — for example, the distance between railway tracks and surrounding buildings is required to be at least six meters. However, many illegal settlements remain due to residents paying bribes to land owners.

The re-establishment of areas around railway tracks has been implemented in stages starting in 2009. The first step was socialization for the residents of the illegal settlements. This was an important departure from previous approaches in which inhumane evictions often ended in conflict and violence. Here, the Ngagel railway residents and the Surabaya Anti Railway Resident Eviction Team forum rejected relocation, and the dispute ended in a discussion with the Surabaya Legislature to negotiate with the central government in order to find a fair solution for the migrant workers.

For permanent illegal settlements around the tracks, the Surabaya City Council used the same lobbying methods to relocate the Kali Jagir residents. Though initially there were conflicts and a lack of information, the residents were finally persuaded to relocate to a new area, despite having inhabited the area for as long as 20 years.

The Surabaya City Council's strategy is to provide flats for those who are impacted by the enforcement of this law. There are also compensation schemes for semi-permanent building owners, if they agree to move to the provided locations. Awarding of land deeds is also an alternative to help the structuring around the railway tracks, provided that residents agree to move to areas further from the city. The relocation of residents is not without obstacles: many had been occupying these areas for years, and reject the new locations that are far from urban areas.

Illegal traders and visitors that set up informal businesses around the railways are deported. This option is taken because of the high number of seasonal visitors who seek employment, often not making enough money to return to their hometown. However, this approach is often limited by the local government's budget. With these approaches, Surabaya hopes to re-establish the land functions around railway tracks and create a well-structured city. Close.

The luxurious informality of São Paulo and the revision of the zoning law

São Paulo, 14 November 2014 — Informality in Sao Paulo is usually related to high density, low environmental quality, and very poor neighborhoods. But there are other aspects of informality in the city: the exclusively residential neighborhoods occupied by mixed-use activities, a topic targeted by the revision of the zoning law. See more.

The luxurious informality of São Paulo and the revision of the zoning law

Eliana Barbosa, São Paulo Community Manager

São Paulo's zoning law is currently under revision and there are many debates taking place regarding the ideal urban form and land use pattern in the city. The zoning law is a legal instrument complementary to the Municipal Plan, with the purpose of regulating land parceling, land use, and plot occupation in the city.

Despite regulating specific zones for specific uses and floor ratio areas, inducing higher densities, the zoning law was historically seen as a way of keeping privileged and well-located areas in the city protected from development. With the label of exclusively residential areas parceled in the beginning of the 20th century, these areas are commonly known as Jardins in reference to the late 19th century concept of "Garden Cities," first explored by Sir Ebenezer Howard. Due to its special character compared to the rest of the city, the urban form of these neighborhoods were classified as heritage by the conservation departments of the city. The luxurious and extremely well-located Jardim Europa area is one example.

Although exclusively residential on paper, the area is actually more complex in reality. Land use is more diverse than what the current zoning law entails. Since it is extremely well-located, the area was occupied by offices, companies, and showrooms over the last 30 years, most working among some kind of informality due to the present land-use regulations. Apart from the irregular tertiary land-use pattern, major public facilities such as the Brazilian Museum of Sculpture and the Museum of Image and Sound were installed there, attracting "unwanted" visitors from other areas of the city, a fact exemplified when the Neighbors' Association started a petition against these museums. This episode shows the dispute over the character of these areas in the city.

The new zoning law — currently under discussion — plans to address this dilemma. A first step was made during a competition called Ensaios Urbanos, in which one of the nominees focused on the topic of the exclusively residential areas, using Jardim Europa as an example, trying to adapt the neighborhood's borders to the concept of mixed-use corridors that the new master-plan intends to implement. The team, in a bold move, showed how much the area has already changed compared to the original design and how a project could mediate the neighborhood's urban edges and its bucolic character.

Discussions are ongoing and there is no consensus. On the one hand, some argue that the maintenance of these low-density residential areas is important for the environmental aspect of the city, since traffic in the neighborhood could increase if other uses were allowed. Others argue that the area could be densified within its borders and officially receive new patterns of land use, more consistent with its strategic location in the city.

Meanwhile, the Jardim Europa continues with its business as usual as a luxurious point of informality in São Paulo. Close.

Gendering development planning to address persistent quality of life challenges

Nairobi, 13 November 2014 — Informal settlements in Nairobi pose unique challenges to urban development, public health, and environmentally sustainable land planning and policy actualization. Transformative grassroots efforts to address these challenges are making headway towards minimizing some of the complex inequalities associated with life in Nairobi's informal tenements. See more.

The gendered impact of inaccessible hygiene facilities and affordable clean water in densely populated urban settings has direct impacts on overall public and environmental health. As Sydney Gray, leader of the organization Mama Mmaji, points out, "water is a women's issue." Women slum dwellers face both socially constructed and economic barriers in their ability to secure housing contracts, negotiate fair prices for clean water, and access improved sanitation facilities. They are five times more likely to be unemployed than their male neighbors and live in a context where a nighttime trip to the bathroom is a significant risk marker for rape.

According to the Pamoja Trust, two million people live in Nairobi's informal slums and settlements, which are jam-packed onto only one percent of land in the capitol city. Constituting over half of the cities population these individuals inhabitant only five percent of the city's residential land area. Covering an area of 5sq miles (2.5sq km), Kibera alone is home to over one million individuals, who account for nearly one fourth of Nairobi's population.

Indeed, slum-upgrading and grassroots resilience approaches to addressing quality of life issues on captured public and private lands in Nairobi continue to evolve as does the landscape of policies and citizen responses to them. It is likely that the most successful initiatives will continue to be those that incorporate economic, social and environmental human rights approach that engages residents of informal settlements at the core of their design. Close.

Twenty years to define resettlement

Ho Chi Minh City, 12 November 2014 — Resettlement, or the movement of informal groups into government-built or supported housing projects, has always been high on Ho Chi Minh City's agenda over the past 20 years. However, housing-focused resettlement projects have proven to be an incomplete solution, failing to consider other essential needs. Recently, the city has started to consider the idea of "integrated resettlement." See more.

Twenty years to define resettlement

Tam Nguyen, Ho Chi Minh City Community Manager

Since 1984: Resettlement Initiated

In the ten years after the Vietnam War, there were few housing projects built in Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon). The government mostly repaired and distributed existing houses to families of government officials. The government started to accumulate resources for new housing projects to resettle families living along the polluted inner-city canals. These canals were, and still have been, the biggest slum communities in HCMC.

Since then, resettlement has been vigorous. In 1985, 7,340 new houses were built using the city's budget. In 1996, families living along canals in four main districts started to resettle — 6,863 families were resettled before 2000. The number reached 13,353 families in 2006, and has still been increasing.

Late 2000s: Problems Revealed

Surveys of the HCMC Institute of Development Studies in 2009 revealed immense challenges surrounding resettled families: issues with income, schooling, vocational training, etc. Among these, the drop in income due to losing old jobs was the most dramatic.

Examples were abundant. Every day, Mr. Trần Trọng Nghĩa, head of a resettled family, had to travel with his children a very long distance back to their former neighborhood for low-paid jobs, for they could not find jobs in their new and still sparsely inhabited resettlement area. Another sparse neighborhood also forced Mrs. Mã Kim Hoa and her two sisters, formerly a street food seller with daily income of VND 200,000-300,000 (USD $9-$14), into unemployment because there were not many people around to sell food to. According to the HCMC Farmer Association, in 2009 there were only 15 percent of resettled families earning a good income, 45 percent were trying to maintain a stable income and 35 percent were facing economic difficulty.

Besides employment, very few resettled communities could adequately provide other social amenities. They lacked schools for children, entertainment sites for youth, markets for homemakers, parks and other communal spaces for the elderly. Many groups of families ended up leaving these "better" homes to come back and illegally rebuild informal settlements in crowded districts of HCMC.

Starting in 2014: Resettlement Redefined

Multiple reports, articles, and even television broadcasts have made it clear that resettlement projects focusing solely on housing are a failed solution for informal communities. A better house alone brings no better livelihood. "Integrated resettlement," which cares about surrounding facilities and amenities needed for a better standard of living, has recently starting coming up more frequently in recent years.

A number of integrated solutions have recently been proposed. One is same-place resettlement, where families would be supported to find temporary houses until their old informal communities are rebuilt into better housing. The on-going Saigon Makeover Competition, organized by Global Shapers of World Economic Forum with support from the government, is indeed seeing many creative same-place resettlement proposals for slum communities (photo 1 & 2). Another solution encourages more complete social facilities in each housing contract, emphasizing the short-term cost for a longer-term attraction for well-integrated communities.

Suggested solutions are promising, but new and few in number. However, with the problem redefined, hopefully the next steps to address these challenges will be faster and stronger. Close.

Securing a right to city space

Dar es Salaam, 11 November 2014 — Land is an asset, but land policy and planning often sees "the land issue" across cities in the Global South as an issue of informality. Through the case of Dar es Salaam, this article focuses on land dynamics and solutions proposing security of tenure. Such solutions recognise that the issue is not a lack of access to land, but rather focus on changing the vulnerabilities in claiming a right to land. See more.

Securing a right to city space

Gemma Todd, Dar es Salaam Community Manager

Informality and land remain a common theme in discussing many of the cities across the Global South. We are presented with the association that informality emerges as a result of inadequate land markets. In this case the arguments for improving land policy, planning, and markets, remain a crucial method to resolve 'informality'. Many solutions applied focus on a De Soto perspective: the poor have access to land, land is an asset for the poor, and in order to release the asset potential, within a capitalist economy, the poor need their titles. Through such thinking land-title schemes have been initiated across Dar es Salaam, and remain a key goal of the Dar es Salaam Institute of Land Administration and Policy Studies. More recently the government set up a 21-day limit, whereby within 21 days all landowners should have their land titles granted. However, many complain that this has not been achieved. Further, the land-title approach raises criticisms: for example, to what extent do women benefit from land titles when gender norms remain unfavourable? Additionally, the formal benefits (i.e. credit) of holding a land title are not always granted. Nevertheless, land-titling programmes crucially recognise land is an asset. But within this discussion I want to focus on how to 'unleash' such potential land holds: security of tenure is required. Land policy needs to incorporate the subjective nature of 'security of tenure'. Security of tenure means an individual is able to secure their right to land.

Within Tanzania's land policy, a feminist perspective is key. Women's power over land has historically remained ruled by customary practices whereby a man connects, and enables, a woman's access to land. Further, women's inferior access has left them vulnerable to discrimination with regard to land use and rights. Women have been unable to control their power over land, or what land as an asset entails.

In response, Tanzania has raised a national focus on women, land ownership, and rights in their new constitution, which is planned to be rolled out in 2015. Within the constitution women are allowed to own and inherit land. Ultimately the new constitution trumps customary laws, and provides women with security of tenure.

At a local level, governments have worked in collaboration with communities to profile and map their land. Such community profiling programmes enable recognition, and have led to the sustainable provision of water.

Finally, NGOs are playing important roles within Dar es Salaam to ensure security of tenure. WAT Human Settlements Trust promotes regularisation, formalisation, and micro-financing of settlements and is thereby revising land policy and ensuring security of tenure. Microfinances provided to clients enable them to upgrade properties. Taking the case of Mrs. Msunga, the provision of microfinance has enabled security of tenure, the security by which she knows she will be able to stay on her land and utilise her land. Empowering individuals to design and upgrade properties provides them with an opportunity to gain an additional source of income through rent, and to further obtain formal recognition. WAT Human Settlements Trust offers assistance throughout the process of land negotiation, payment, planning, and finalisation. Working with individuals to have the opportunity to acquire land, design and plan their land, gain titles and formal recognition, but ultimately to be able to utilise their land.

Land policy cannot simply focus on bringing the informal into the formal land system. We need to focus on security of tenure. Policies and planning need to look at the processes involved in land deals, markets, and transactions; to connect to stakeholders ensuring a right to claim space; and to ensure people are able to use land and maximise its potential. Close.

Informalizing the formal: The forays and the futures of street trading in Cape Town's CBD

Cape Town, 10 November 2014 — South Africa's various neo-liberal centered urban regeneration models to attract formal business back into the CBDs have had mixed results for informal trading practices. In Cape Town CBD their numbers and permitted places of trade are highly restricted. Recent new policy directions, however, suggest a more "progressive" approach, but this needs to be supported by political will and implemented into urban space with imagination to bring about significant change. See more.

Informalizing the formal: The forays and the futures of street trading in Cape Town's CBD

Tariq Toffa, Cape Town Community Manager

Since the nineteenth century, the rise of colonial, industrialized, and capitalist states brought increasing disregard for the informal economy in favor of the formal economy. In South Africa, apartheid modernity would deepen this pattern, for its proscriptions on people of color in 'white' urban areas also meant restricting the practice of 'black' street trading. However, since the 1990s and more democratic governance in 1994, economic policies embraced urban street trading in a society where low skills and education levels make formal sector employment unlikely.

But these openings had other consequences. As South African cities became open to all, central business districts (CBDs) fell victim to urban decay as those who feared the process of integration left these areas. Today these CBDs have embarked on various urban regeneration models centered in the neo-liberal school of thought, to attract formal business back. In Cape Town CBD this has left informal traders in a strange reality: although accommodated and relatively affluent in the country's most attractive and tourist-friendly CBD, their numbers and permitted places of trade are highly restricted: of the major metros, Cape Town CBD contains the fewest number of traders but the lengthiest street trading by-laws (fig. 1).

In 2013, however, the City announced a draft report for more "progressive" policies from its current informal trading model of limited accommodation toward formalization. The report claims that the City will shift its focus from a regulatory to a developmental role, where informal traders will no longer be expected to formalize but will be supported in their livelihood choices. If taken up, this could be a step toward other value-based projects.

Along with policy, another crucial dimension that must be addressed is the spatial dimension. Location is crucial to the success of informal trading. The Spatial Development Framework, the policy that addresses space on a provincial level, affirms that the spatial structure of urban areas needs to be altered in order to successfully integrate small enterprises into the urban fabric of cities. In Cape Town CBD, permitted street trading is clustered in the essential core areas around the Cape Town Station precinct, whose heavy pedestrian and vehicular flows are ideal (fig. 2). Developments related to the station precinct are therefore critical to opening the CBD up to the informal economy. However, a 2012 upgrade of the station focused on an aesthetic "facelift" without altering the status quo for informal economic practices; and a R80 billion ($8bn) 2010 precinct proposal, which entailed sinking underground the existing railway lines into the CBD in order to open up some 50 hectares of land to new development, similarly shows little evidence of prioritising and restructuring the city to integrate the informal economic practices of the city's poorest (fig. 3).

If a new policy direction is to be taken seriously, the City then could revisit Louw and Dewar's intelligent — though apparently abandoned — decade-old proposal which recommended terminating the rail system outside the CBD and building a major new interchange there. This interchange would be linked back into the CBD with a "magnificent" linear public space with an inner city public transportation system, "creating maximum opportunities for small businesses, which are vital to the future of the city" (fig. 4).

In sum, new policy must energetically be supported by political will and implemented into urban space with imagination to bring about significant change. Informality must finally return from exile. The formal must be informalized, not only the reverse. Close.

Urban planning to solve the problems created by informal growth

Bogotá, 7 November 2014 — Ideally, planning should take place before urban growth. The reality is often different: informal growth comes first, then planning is used to try to bring things under control. Such is the case of Fenicia, a small triangular area near the historic district that grew informally and is now the subject of an ambitious urban renewal plan. See more.

Urban planning to solve the problems created by informal growth

Jorge Bela, Bogotá Community Manager

Urban planning is one of the most powerful tools in the hands of local authorities. Urban growth in Latin American has, nevertheless, often been chaotic and driven by informality. Urban planning has only come as an afterthought, as a way to give legal coverage to a de facto reality.

Such has been the case in certain areas around Bogota's historic center, as the Fenicia triangle. Its expansion has been largely informal, and the now houses about 480 families, some of them third-generation occupants. The area surrounding the triangle has undergone profound transformation in recent decades. Much of that change came with the growth of the Universidad de los Andes, one of the largest and most prestigious in Colombia. Founded in the 1940s, it has grown substantially, and with other higher education institutions, become an economic dynamo for the area.

The increased role of educational institutions in the area has come with some drawbacks. At night and during vacation periods the area empties considerably. These wide swings in population create problems for local businesses, which struggle to survive. Also, security problems increase substantially during times when the area empties.

In order to tackle these problems, the Universidad de los Andes is leading an urban renewal project that seeks to demolish the older, single family homes and to replace them with multi-unit buildings that would significantly increase the density in the area. Higher density will reduce the impact of the floating student community. Also, the new units will reduce the housing deficit that plagues the area. This project resonates with plans currently being designed by the city to bring new vitality to the expanded center, which includes areas next to the colonial center, such as the Fenicia triangle.

Still, careful planning is required to avoid the pitfalls of urban renewal projects. Gentrification is one possible pitfall, and in Bogotá it is further aggravated by the estrato system, which subsidizes the utility bills for residents of poorer neighborhoods. If the estrato changes in this area, its residents might not be able to pay for their basic bills, and thus forced to move.

On October 15th, 2014, the city approved a decree establishing that the owners of the houses that are to be demolished will receive housing units of a comparable size in the new buildings. Furthermore, the estrato will not change for them during 10 years. A 30 percent subsidy for purchasing a unit will be set aside for those renting in the area. This decree ended the controversy and widespread opposition that the project had generated in the community.

The Fenicia project is an interesting example of how the relation between informality and planning is often not linear. In this case, planning followed informality, and it is now used to mitigate the impact of an urban renewal project that seeks to eliminate the unwanted consequences of informality. Close.

Regularisation of land titles: Who benefits?

Lagos, 6 November 2014 — The rapid urbanization of Lagos increases occupancy of unallocated land. The increasing need to accommodate large populations of land squatters and obtain better records of land use for taxation has led to a policy culminating in tenancy security for squatters. However, how well the process and improvements work is debatable. See more.

Regularisation of land titles: Who benefits?

Olatawura Ladipo-Ajayi, Lagos Community Manager

According to Lagos' Land Use act, virtually all land belongs to the government, but certificates of occupancy are issued and recognized as evidence of land ownership/occupancy. The Lands Bureau is responsible for allocating land use, issuing certificate of occupancies, and other matters concerning land use. Notable amongst its duties is the Bureau's regularization responsibilities. Regularisation is essentially a policy of grace allowing squatters on uncommitted government land an opportunity to obtain a certificate of occupancy to the land encroached upon from the State. The process provides legality for the occupants and is subject to two basic conditions: the property must not be situated on a Government Scheme, Estate or Committed Area, and it must be situated within an area that conforms with Urban and Regional Planning regulations and standard of the State. In 2006, the Directorate of Regularization was set up under the Lands Bureau to focus solely on regularization matters.

While these policies exist to ensure land and tenancy security, the reality is very different. There were reports of numerous fraudulent claims during the initial waves of regularisation, leading to rare enforcement and issuance of certificates of occupancy. To solve the problem of fraudulent claims, in 2012 the Lagos State government came up with the Land Use Act Title Documentation Regulation, made in accordance with the provisions of the Land Use Act. The regulations provided an opportunity for pre-Land Use Act landowners without formal land title documents to obtain the governor's consent and, therefore, certificates of ownership. Prior to this, those without land/documentary titles could not be issued a certificate of occupancy. Other initiatives include making land tax payment electronic in order to make payment easier and to document land use and occupancy.

These policies for allowing land security, tenancy, ownership and legal residency are noble, but it can be argued that current efforts do little for the poor, especially the vulnerable poor living in slum areas and unallocated land areas. The process of regularization is lengthy, requires a long list of documents and, in theory, a 30-day processing period. The reality is a lengthier and more cumbersome process. Although when acquired, certificates of occupancy provide security of tenancy, due to bureaucracy and, to some extent, incompetence, the process is often incomplete. This ultimately discourages residents from initiating the process. Another challenge is the responsibility of payment of land use charges, and subjection to other forms of taxation that come with being issued a certificate of occupancy. The most vulnerable poor generally try to avoid such taxes and most cannot afford the additional costs. The complexity of the situation begs the question of how to balance the need for tenancy and the State's need to generate revenue for social services that would benefit all residents.

The Social and Economic Rights Action Center, whose work on slum clearance and land rights was covered in a previous article here, has been working tirelessly on housing rights. The organization advocates against eviction of squatters and slum dwellers from unallocated lands, fights against slum clearance, and advocates for regularization and improvement of its processes and enforcement in slum areas. Perhaps a more effective approach would be two-pronged: continued advocacy with the government coupled with sensitizing those in need of tenancy about the benefits of obtaining legal tenancy and land rights. This could go a long way in helping the poor make informed decisions about the process and increasing their chances of land security. Close.

Seventy-six percent invisible

Lilongwe, 5 November 2014 — Government inability to address the poor living conditions of the majority of Lilongwe's residents has left a void increasingly filled by civil society actors. Official city development strategies, however, help legitimise their work. See more.

Seventy-six percent invisible

Nora Lindstrom, Lilongwe Community Manager

When discussing the land and housing situation in Lilongwe, there's one number that gets thrown around a lot: 76 percent. According to the 2009 Lilongwe City Development Strategy (CDS), that's the percentage of the city's residents who live in sub-standard housing or informal settlements. The two are not identical — particularly in terms of tenure security — but what the CDS is getting at is that two-thirds of the capital's population live in areas characterised by poor quality housing, with limited access to clean water and sanitation, and significant challenges with regards to waste management, roads and accessibility, electricity, sewerage, as well as access to schools and health facilities. So in essence, whether you live in an informal area or not, the user experience for the majority of the city's residents is the same.

In large part, the reason so few of Lilongwe's residents have been able to obtain access to formal land and adequate housing is due to the city's strong annual growth rate, estimated at over four percent. As elsewhere in Sub-Saharan Africa, this has been 'jobless growth' in the sense that urbanisation has not been accompanied by commensurate industrialisation bringing employment and prosperity. Simultaneously, institutions entrusted with the responsibility to provide public services have been slow and lacked resources in responding to the city's growth.

Some efforts have been made in the past to improve living conditions in poor settlements. In 2010, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation "announced a $27.2 million commitment to fund a range of urban development projects that bring together city governments and community organizations from five fast-growing African cities," including Lilongwe. Malawi's capital was set to receive $2.6 million for a five-year effort to "improve the general livelihood of Lilongwe's informal settlements through a detailed survey of the needs of their residents and a range of interventions aimed at upgraded service delivery."

The reasons for the project's failure are systemic; the City Council lacks the appropriate institutional structures to address urban development. This has not gone unnoticed: the 2010 Study on Urban Development Master Plan for Lilongwe prepared by JICA notes how a key problem in Lilongwe is the "insufficient level of urban planning and development management administered by the relevant authorities, particularly the Lilongwe City Council." Indeed, since the Gates Foundation debacle, there have been no formal upgrading efforts in the city.

On a positive note for the 76 percent, however, the master plan also indicates that a key strategy to address the challenges posed by urbanisation in the city is improving living conditions in so-called 'unplanned settlements'. As a reflection of this, the clear majority of the city's poorer settlements are located on land zoned as residential in the Lilongwe 2030 Land Use Plan.

In the void left by government inaction to address urban poverty, this official vision of the inclusion of informal areas into the city's formal structure helps legitimise the efforts of local actors. These include organisations such as the Lilongwe Urban Poor People's Network and the Centre for Community Organisation and Development, who work at the grassroots level helping poor communities identify and address their own needs. These are not multi-million-dollar donor-funded projects, but given the current status of urban management in Lilongwe, small-scale grassroots efforts to improve living conditions for the city's residents may prove to be a more sustainable way forward. Close.

Formalizing the informal through land titling

Caracas, 4 November 2014 — A new initiative in Caracas aims to give land titles to over 100,000 families living in the informal city. Its impact can help diminish the barrier between formal and informal cities. Nonetheless, urban planning needs to go hand-in-hand with this process. See more.

Formalizing the informal through land titling

Ana Cristina Vargas, Caracas Community Manager

In Caracas, one out of every two residents live in the informal city, commonly known as "barrios." Most of these citizens have spent their life savings to build their houses over time. They are considered part of the city but their part is not fully urbanized, it lacks access to basic services, houses are built on unstable land and they do not own the land where they have built their houses. Consequently, Caracas is divided between formal and informal cities. Many attempts have been made to diminish the social and physical barriers between them. The Municipality of Sucre has recently launched a promising strategy to formalize the informal: the mayor has introduced a new decree to provide land titling to residents of the informal city.

Tenure through land titling has been done in other informal sectors of Caracas in the last decade in the Municipalities of Chacao, Baruta, and Libertador. In 2003, land titles were given to more than a hundred families living in one small informal settlement in the Municipality of Chacao. The administration aimed to help these families obtain access to bank loans and start their own businesses or improve their houses. After a decade, the houses have been enhanced, making these sectors a nicer urban landscape. Nonetheless, few residents have mortgaged their houses to start their own businesses. In 2006, the national government created the "Special Act for a Comprehensive Regularization of Land Tenure for Popular Urban Settlements," which aims to collaborate with the municipal government.

Sucre's ordinance project titled Mi Propiedad (My Property) aims to impact 110,000 families. Petare is known as the largest slum in Latin America and it has been informally urbanized over more than 60 years. The new ordinance allows families that have been settled for more than ten years to have access to land titles. The process will be led by a new technical office in charge of studying each application and verifying that the land where the house is built complies with a list of requirements. The main requirements are that the land is safe from landslides and that it is public land. For each case, the technical office will help to set each parcel's boundaries to avoid conflicts between neighbors. This initiative will allow massive land titling that has not been done before in Caracas, given that most cases have been on small settlements.

The positive impact of this initiative can scale up and not only help individuals but also play an important role in redeveloping forgotten parts of the city. In terms of individual impact, as Hernando de Soto promulgated in his book "The Mystery of Capital," by having land titles poorer citizens can obtain access to bank loans, their children can inherit their house, and their property gains market value.

It is important to mention some of the common risks of giving land tenure to the informal sector. The first is to acknowledge that the absence of urban planning when the families settled informally requires that the municipality revises the land use to propose an urban plan and provide basic services and infrastructure that might be nonexistent. Another risk is safety: houses might be settled in landslide-prone areas or might not be structurally sound, and then relocation will be mandatory. Finally, it seems important to acknowledge that urban planning must accompany land titling to fully connect the informal and the formal cities. Close.

What does the future hold for Mumbai's Eastern Waterfront?

Mumbai, 3 November 2014 — Mumbai's Eastern Waterfront — a fading dockyard area — has huge potential to be a lively area of activity for all Mumbaikers. Its 1,800 acres have largely been left out of city plans, but since a highway has reconnected that area to the central business district, new plans have emerged. Will it be transformed into a much-needed public space or area for affordable housing? Or will developers get hold of it and make the city's coastline into malls and megastores? See more.

What does the future hold for Mumbai's Eastern Waterfront?

Carlin Carr, Mumbai Community Manager

Mumbai is one of those cities with enviable natural assets. Surrounded by water on three sides, the land-starved city has an enormous 222-kilometer coastline, and before the massive urbanization and development of the last couple of decades, was lush with mangroves, palm trees, migratory birds, and fisheries. Recent movements to reclaim the city's waterfront have resulted in two promenades totaling three kilometers along the Arabian Sea in the suburb of Bandra. The westward-facing seaside paths are rare public spaces that bring both rich and poor together.

Activists are calling for more such public spaces along the coastline, but the valuable waterfront land has the potential to be gobbled up by enterprising developers eager to build luxury towers and malls. "The absence of a master plan for development of the waterfronts has encouraged the rich and the powerful to manipulate and grab land along the coast, thus gradually depleting the city of its most vital open spaces," writes P.K. Das, a Mumbai architect who has led the recapturing of the western coastline. The city learned this lesson when the former mill lands in a central area of the city, which prominent city architects, planners, and social activists argued should be made into affordable housing and public spaces, were sold off to developers. Now, the area is dotted with malls that house Gucci and Donna Karan, five-star hotels, and luxury office and residential towers. The loss to the city, particularly the poor, is one many still mourn.

For this reason, planners are keeping vigilant watch over one of the city's last large-scale areas with the potential for sharkish redevelopment. The Eastern Waterfront, though just a kilometer from the famed Marine Drive on the west side — also known as "the Queen's necklace" — has little of the glamour of its opposite coast. The area once boasted a thriving dockland and trading area, which have since moved to more modern ports. The area — 1,800 acres and 30 kilometers of coastline — is owned by the Mumbai Port Trust, which was formed in 1873 to facilitate trade with Britain. Today, the land is only partly used for its ports; the other areas are used for many informal industries that have cropped up, including ship breaking and scrapping. Laborers working in the area have built up informal housing for themselves.

The area is largely desolate and abandoned, but all that has been changing since a highway opened up recently linking the eastern suburbs to the main business district in the southern tip of Mumbai. The transportation links, previously non-existent for the area, have put the Eastern Waterfront back on the map. And discussion about what should happen to the docklands has resurfaced.

Das has a timely idea (the city is working on its Development Plan): better land use planning of these areas to safeguard the city's most beautiful asset and spaces. "Public spaces in Mumbai should be integrated structurally into the larger programs for the city's development, with special emphasis on its social and environmental constitution. Clearly, a comprehensive plan for the city's public spaces is absolutely necessary." Close.

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Comments

Interesting development that you've covered in Caracas. You outline some of the risks associated with land titling in informal areas, but I wonder if gentrification is one that is also experienced in Caracas? In many cases globally where informal land has been titled this has encouraged the 'original' residents to sell their land following formalisation leading to gentrification of these areas while the 'original' residents sometimes move to other informal areas. One way to control for this has been to bar recipients of land titles from selling their plots within a certain amount of time following receipt of the land title. Other options are for the government to secure tenure but not actually give 'sellable' land titles for X amount of years. There are also ways other than land titles to secure tenure in informal settlements, depending on the layout and living standards in a settlement (a la the tenure security continuum). Do these issues feature in the discourse in Caracas?

Interesting points you raise Nora,regarding controls and it is clear from all the situation of the various cities, that process of securing titles and tenancy is a very important factor from informal to formal. Similar controls are being implemented in Lagos for the new housing projects limiting the number of times ownership can be transferred and period of time before it can be transferred, the hope is this is implemented properly and due process followed.

As this week's topic has shown it is not enough for policy to be in place, the implementation process affects whether or not there will be drawbacks such as gentrification you and Jorge pointed out and the sustainability of the policy. Also, as seen from Dar es Salaam, Ho chi minh , Lagos and others lack of attention to process can affect implementation in various ways be it reluctance to begin/complete the process as in Lagos due to cumbersome nature, or lack of adequate provision and attention to the multifaceted nature of resettlement which creates new set of urban issues. Creating a good policy requires stable and widely encompasing processes so urban planning is less reactionary and more proactive.

Hi Olatawura Lapido-Ajayi
I think you & I might be on the same wave length.
I believe "titling" of land leads to wealth for some and poverty for others who get marginalised.

Titling also prepares land for capture by the elite when the desperate poor must sell.

If we are looking at land reform, we don't really need to worry too much about the group who will become owners - they can look after themselves - but we do need to wory about those who are negatively effected by this system of ownership of that which is actually a birthright ALL should have GUARANTEED secure access to - as to air! If we don't guarantee that, life itself is conditional on this ownership system - what does that make of human rights?!

Land reform must begin with guaranteeing human rights - the only ones whose rights are threatened are those who cannot buy their access to the elements for life - the free gifts of nature for life.

With technological job redundancy & global competition, this is a group that is destined to grow, in spite of economic growth.

I would like to see urban commons established in every neighbourhood for eligible people to establish secure housing and community (non commercial) food gardens. Their presence in neighbourhoods everywhere would be an attractive presence which would vitalise gentrifying but lifeless dormitory suburbs.

With such urban commons there would be no need to worrry about "social inclusion" or lack of paying employment - collaboration & cooperation would thrive and compliment the benefits others create through their engagement with the competitive economy.

Hi Chris,
Thanks for your insights. I do agree we are on the same wave length, Land in a country of birth should really be a given for everyone like council flats in the UK. In the capital city, FCT, this is available. For some places like Lagos, with its small land mass better regulations and reforms are certainly required. However some intricacies are inevitable in land matters. I looked into the concept of Urban commons, and it is definitely work looking into. Brings to mind how things were done in the old days in villages and if it worked then, its definitely worth a re visit for urban centers. How would one go about implementing this though, it still requires a measure of government regulation and land security? It can be argued this comes with titling/ tenancy agreements.

I believe a similar commune is under way in South Africa, Tariq wrote about it a while back, you should also check out that article.

Hi Tariq, interesting insight from Cape Town on informalizing the formal.
But what is the city government point of view towards the informal traders? And so far what kind of policy issued to help those in informal economy to enter formal economy. I am asking because as I understand those who are in informal economy do not pay taxes hence many cities encouraged them to work in formal sectors because city government can get revenue from the business. There is also retribution type of revenue, which also applied to informal traders who open their business at government land such as park or parking lot (Indonesia have many like this). Adding to this, can I ask what makes the government shift their focus from a regulatory role to developmental role? This is interesting to me because so far, many Indonesian government only understood to formalize informal business.

Thanks for an interesting article. The challenges with resettlement that you outline are sadly the norm when it comes to government-driven resettlement. It was interesting to read that there now is at least discussion about on-site upgrading or same-place resettlement. How strongly do you think the government backs this? My question is related to the motivation behind previous resettlements - were the poor really moved to enhance their living conditions, or did the government have ulterior motives, such as getting access to valuable real estate? In Cambodia, the government has orchestrated mass evictions in Phnom Penh to get hold of valuable real estate which is then sold or leased to dubious companies..(see e.g. the Boeung Kak case in central Phnom Penh - http://saveboeungkak.wordpress.com/)

Hi Carlin, your article points out at a reality that is very present in Colombia, particularly in Bogotá: informal settlements are not only made by the poor, they are also made by the very rich. In Bogota, the Eastern Hills, a natural reserve with the highest protection levels, are under threat by luxury condominiums. Some of the most expensive apartments in the city, which can cost several million dollars, have been built there. Of course, they more affluent have the resources to eventually give legal appearance to their illegal developments.

Public awareness and higher scrutiny are making this kind of luxury illegal settlements increasingly difficult, but still the risk is there.

Thanks for all of the great insights into your cities! Tariq, I like your final statement in your article stating the formal need to be informalised. It is not a one way street and in order to achieve urban inclusion questions and changes are required within formal and informal land. The current focus often tends to see the informal as requiring inclusion into the formal system, without questioning the suitability, feasibility, and sustainability. But also additionally, the links between the formal and informal land systems are often not recognised. So it is good to see that Cape Town is making such changes.
Within this complex comes the question of location, location, and location - who gets what piece of land, where, and why? Urban space is competitive and the question of location is defined by geographical inequalities (concerning economics, race, etc). Therefore I am wondering within the question of location and including the informal what stakeholders play a key role and require engagement? Governments, but also businesses and corporates are increasingly controlling city space. Therefore in discussing city space and (in)formalisation policy needs a platform whereby such groups can be engaged.

Priyanka, I thoroughly enjoyed reading your article on forced resettlement and human rights issues in Delhi. This is an issue faced by many Nairobi residents and will likely increase as the country continues to develop. I was inspired by the grassroots citizen agency approach you highlighted and believe there is a great deal that can be learned from these efforts. In all major cities globally, it is the poor who are often relocated. We call it gentrification and urban development, but in the end it is the forced relocation of families to meet the needs of industrialization. I agree with you completely that a more human-centered approach needs to be incorporated in this design.